Since 1551, there is a winery that feels like home in Barcelona: Codorniu. Jaume Codorniu’s vineywards and winemaking activities date back tu the XVI century. So that is really a long and traditional Brand.
In 1659, Anna Codorniu was the last person of the family to ever use the last name, so it remains a historic moment when she married Miquel Raventós and they both brought together two of the most important winemaking families.
Besides wine, there is something that makes Barcelona and Catalonia very special: the cava. This sparkling wine was born on 1872, when cava pioneer Josep Raventós produced the first bottles.
Codorniu winery
In 1915 the first cellars of the company, the Codorniu Cavas, where built with a modernist architecture style. In 1976 they were considered a National Historic Artistic Monument by the King Juan Carlos himself.
Funny story: Codorníu was one of Spain’s first TV ads: Spanish Television started broadcasting in 1959 and one of the first ads ever was Codorniu’s.
Anna de Codorniu, their most emblematic cava, was born in 1984, including the Chadronnay variety. In 2002, the Pinot Roi arrived being considered a revolution in the world of cava.
Their vineyards come across Catalunya in three different places:
Penedès: where they make the types of Macabeo, Xarel·lo and Perallada.
Conca de Barberà: located in the middle of Catalunya, Codorníu makes there their famous Pinot Noir.
Costers del Segre: located in the left side of Catalunya, pretty near to Aragón, they grow there the Chardonnay.
How do they harvest the grapes? They begin in the late summer, some of them, like the Chardonnay, in August, and the rest in September. With the reception and pressing, they transport the grapes to the winery with very much care, and avoiding to lose any of the classic flavours of the grapes. Then it comes the first fermentation, when the juice of the grapes become base wine, a wine that is obviously very young and with quite aromatic. When it comes to decide the correct blending, Codorniu trust son the best tasters and oenologists in the world, which decide the best combination for each cava. Once it is settled, they bottle the results.
Bute ven then they’re not ready to go to you yet: then it comes the second fermentation, including yeasts and sugar. During this process the classic bubbles form themselves naturally. This is the part where they start to look and taste like the real thing. They stayed in the century-old cellars for almost 9 months, and the ageing period can last for 36 months ore ven more.
Bottles are rotated to put yeast lees in the bottom of the bottle. This is disgorging. Mixing cava and sugar and adding its final cork and label to every bottle makes them now ready to be enjoyed at your table.
Classic wines and cavas get better with time, and Codorniu is a perfect example of that. If you come to visit Spain, Barcelona, Catalunya, do not miss the opportunity to enjoy one of the world’s greatest wine ever.